2.1 Unique Waterborne Alternatives to Traditional Solvent-based Coatings for Industrial Wood Applications
(Room 240-242)
09 Apr 18
2:00 PM
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2:30 PM
Tracks:
Session 2: Wood Coatings
Solvent based conversion varnishes have been the coatings of choice for industrial wood applications for many years. These coatings can provide an attractive durable finish that is cost effective. Kitchen cabinet and furniture manufacturers choose these coatings because they are fast drying, they are easily repaired, they tolerate climate differences well and they are extremely forgiving. Some of these coatings have good chemical and water resistance and good wear resistance. The disadvantage of these chemistries is the high volatile organic compound (VOC), the formaldehyde emissions and the pot life incurred when the conversion varnish is catalyzed with an acid catalyst. Due to increasing regulations, more environmentally friendly alternatives are now being considered. Waterborne acrylics and water-based UV coatings are becoming more common for use in industrial wood applications because they have excellent resistance and mechanical properties, excellent application properties and very low solvent emissions. Self-crosslinking acrylics have very good durability and moderately fast drying times. Waterborne (WB) UV chemistry is gaining market share over traditional solvent-based chemistry because it enables the end user to increase production efficiency and maintain a smaller manufacturing footprint. Both WB acrylics and WB UV can be formulated to pass Kitchen Cabinet Manufacturers Association (KCMA) and Architectural Woodworking Standards (AWS) specifications. A new platform of WB acrylics has been developed which lends itself to crosslinking with low toxicity carbodiimides. This paper will compare the performance of these new WB self-crosslinking acrylics in both 1K and 2K formulations with WB UV coatings and solvent-based conversion varnishes. Test methods and formulating techniques will be discussed.